Bristol City Line was a British shipping line based in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England that traded from 1704 until 1974. From 1760 Bristol City Line also built ships. The company's fleet was distinguished with the name of each ship ending in "City", and named after cities in Britain, the USA and Canada. Some names were re-used up to five times for successive ships.

Early steamship services

Bristol City Line started a regular transatlantic steamship service between Bristol and New York in 1879. The early years of the service were troubled by shipwrecks. The first SS ''Bristol City'' sailed from New York on 28 December 1880 and was lost. Just under a year later, on 3 December 1881, her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

the first SS ''Bath City'' sprang a leak off

Grand Banks The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordfis ...

, Newfoundland and sank. 14 months after that, on 23 February 1883 the first SS ''Gloucester City'' struck an ice floe and sank. On 10 February 1887 the first SS ''Wells City'' collided with the SS ''Lone Star'' in the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between New ...

and sank. She was salvaged but sold. In July 1893 the ''Llandaff City'' successfully towed the crippled Atlantic Liner ''Olympia'' with 250 passengers on board after the latter had been drifting for four days with a broken shaft.Dundee Courier - Thursday 20 July 1893 On 23 February 1900 the second SS ''Bath City'' was wrecked on

Lundy Island Lundy is an English island in the Bristol Channel. It was a micronation from 1925–1969. It forms part of the district of Torridge in the county of Devon. About long and wide, Lundy has had a long and turbulent history, frequently changi ...

in the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Seve ...

. On 31 January 1904 the first SS ''Boston City'' collided with SS ''Colardo'' and was beached off

Sandy Hook Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern e ...

, New Jersey. She was refloated but sold.

First World War

On 19 August 1915 the German submarine shelled and sank the second about 40 miles off

Fastnet Rock Fastnet Lighthouse is a 54m high lighthouse situated on the remote Fastnet Rock in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the most southerly point of Ireland and lies southwest of Cape Clear Island and from County Cork on the Irish mainland. The current l ...

. On 30 August 1917 sailed from New York and was lost. On 18 December 1917 torpedoed the second off the south coast of Ireland with the loss of 30 lives. On 2 January 1918 torpedoed and sank the second in St. George's Channel.

Between the wars

In January 1933 the second was abandoned in a gale and sank about 600 miles southeast of

Cape Race Cape Race is a point of land located at the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Its name is thought to come from the original Portuguese name for this cape, "Raso", mean ...

, Newfoundland. The company added a service to Canada in the same year.

Second World War

On 1 July 1941 the first was serving as a

weather ship A weather ship, or ocean station vessel, was a ship stationed in the ocean for surface and upper air meteorological observations for use in weather forecasting. They were primarily located in the north Atlantic and north Pacific oceans, reportin ...

in the Atlantic when torpedoed and sank her with the loss of all hands. Bristol City (1920)

On 21 December 1942 torpedoed and sank the first in the Atlantic. On 5 May 1943 torpedoed and sank the third SS ''

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

'' (1920).

Post war operations and takeover

The company extended its Canadian service to the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

in 1958. In 1970 the company's first

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

was launched. However, in 1971

Bibby Line Bibby Line is a UK company concerned with shipping and marine operations. Its parent company, Bibby Line Group Limited, can be traced back to John Bibby who founded the company in 1807. The company along with the group is based in Liverpool. ...

took over the company and the ship was completed as the 31,036 MV ''Dart America'', a vessel that was crewed and managed for Clarke Traffic Services Ltd of Montreal. Her sister ship MV ''Dart Atlantic'' was launched in 1971. In 1972 MV ''Halifax City'' was sold to Thai owners and MV ''Coventry City'' and the third MV ''Toronto City'' were transferred to Bibby Line. In 1974 ''Dart America'' was transferred to Bibby Line, leaving only ''Dart Atlantic'' which was sold to C.Y. Tung in 1980. The two Dart class vessels were operated as part of the Dart Container Line consortium.

References

External links

{{commons category, Bristol City Line *http://www.benjidog.co.uk/allen/Bristol%20City%20Line.html *http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/165.html Companies established in 1704 Transport companies established in 1704 Defunct companies based in Bristol Defunct shipping companies of the United Kingdom 1704 establishments in England